1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to wireless communication carriers. More particularly, it relates to location and presence-based services for the wireless industry.
2. Background of Related Art
The term “presence” in the wireless world typically relates to a network answer to the simple question “Are you available?”. For instance, if a subscriber's wireless device is turned off, they would not be available. However, if a subscriber's wireless device is turned on, and in communication with a carrier, the carrier would most likely be able to indicate to a relevant request that the subscriber is available and thus “present”. The functions and use of presence information is well known in the art.
Location information regarding subscribers is increasingly becoming available in a wireless network. This is particularly true in systems that comply with E-9-1-1 requirements. Location information relates to absolute coordinates of a wireless device.
Both Location and Presence services are message intensive on telecom networks. Message reduction in general is desirable, both to allow increased capacity in a wireless network, as well as to improve reliability of the system by reducing the number of messages.